Results 14,921-14,940 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Staff Redeployment (17 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The Public Service Agreement 2010-14 (Croke Park Agreement) provides for agreed redeployment arrangements to apply in the Civil Service and in other parts of the public service. Under the Agreement, redeployment generally takes precedence over all other methods of filling a vacancy and supersedes any existing agreements on the deployment of staff. It sets out the agreed redeployment...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Departmental Staff Transfers (17 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: In response to the Deputy’s question the following table outlines the number of staff in my Department or in bodies which fall under the remit of my Department who sought transfers in 2012, and those currently seeking transfers, on a county basis: Current location Number Location to which they transferred Staff who transferred in 2012 Valuation Office 1 Dublin 1 Portlaoise...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Staff Redeployment (17 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The Public Service Agreement 2010-14 (Croke Park Agreement) provides for agreed redeployment arrangements to apply in the Civil Service and in other parts of the public service. Under the Agreement, redeployment generally takes precedence over all other methods of filling a vacancy and supersedes any existing agreements on the deployment of staff. It sets out the agreed redeployment...

Order of Business (16 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: It will be introduced this session.

Order of Business (16 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: Tá sí ina codladh.

Order of Business (16 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: They are independent when it suits.

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Procurement Contracts (16 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 354, 367 and 369 together. In relation to the general issue of employment law and its enforcement, these are matters for my colleague Mr. Richard Bruton, T. D. Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and the National Employment Rights Authority (NERA) respectively. Public procurement procedures require applicants to meet certain standards when...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Freedom of Information Requests (16 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: In my recent discussion with the Oireachtas Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform Committee on my proposals for the reform and extension of Freedom of Information, I confirmed the principle endorsed by Government in its Decision approving the General Scheme of the FOI reform legislation that commercial state bodies should not be subject to Freedom of Information requirements. In view of the...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Procurement (16 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The Public Service Reform Plan published my Department in November 2011 identified procurement reform as a key instrument that can assist in maintaining the delivery of public services in an efficient manner. The National Procurement Service (NPS) has put in place a number of national arrangements designed to secure better value for money from leveraging the public service’s buying...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Procurement (16 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The assessment of a tenderer’s financial and economic standing is a key part of any procurement process because tenderers must have the necessary capacity to carry out a contract. Establishing the appropriate suitability criteria that are relevant and appropriate to a particular contract is, of course, a matter for the contracting authority concerned. This is because the contracting...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Expenditure Reviews (16 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 361, 362, 363 and 380 together. Details of Government expenditure, Health expenditure, Social Protection expenditure and Education expenditure in nominal terms and expressed as a percentage of tax revenue and on a per capita basis from 1992 to 2012 are detailed in the table below. The Deputy might be interested to know that my Department hosts a databank...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: State Bodies (16 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The table below shows a list of commercial state companies and the dividends from each by the year received into the Exchequer. 2006€,000 2007€,000 2008€,000 2009€,000 2010€,000 2011€,000 2012€,000 Bord Gáis 9,079 8,361 27,941 38,187 30,251 33,091 23,814 Bord na Mona 3,850 8,035 12,249 4,994 3,296 4,115 2,375...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Dividend Income (16 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I have budgeted for receipts of €204m as Dividends from commercial State companies. While this represents a significant increase in the historically low dividend yield from commercial State companies relative to their current asset base, I believe it represents a reasonable expectation on behalf of the shareholders. My officials are working, in conjunction with NewEra, to finalise...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Regulatory Impact Assessments (16 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: I refer to the Deputy's parliamentary question regarding the number of Regulatory Impact Assessments (RIA’s) that have been carried out by my Department. In the past twelve months my Department has completed one Regulatory Impact Assessment on the proposed Regulation of Lobbying Bill. This RIA is due to be submitted to Government shortly together with the General Scheme of the Bill....

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Procurement (16 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The information sought by the Deputy is not recorded centrally in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform for public contracts. Contracting authorities are currently only obliged to publish contract award notices on eTenders and the Official Journal of the EU (OJEU) for those contracts whose values exceed the EU thresholds. The current EU threshold for public works contracts is...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Departmental Bodies (16 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The radical streamlining of State Bodies was identified as a key deliverable of the Public Service Reform Plan which included 48 rationalisation measures to be implemented by the end of 2012, as well as a further 46 critical reviews to take place by the end of June 2012. On 31 October 2012, I updated my cabinet colleagues in relation to the agency rationalisation programme, which included...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Pension Provisions (16 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The minimum service required to qualify for the minimum Officeholder's pension is 2 years in a qualifying office. The term 'qualifying office' refers to the offices of Taoiseach, Tánaiste, Minister, Minister of State, Attorney General, Ceann Comhairle, Leas Cheann Comhairle, Cathaoirleach, Leas-Chathaoirleach, and Leader of the Seanad. It should be noted that, under the Pensions Act...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Pensions (16 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The Deputy will be aware that I replied to a previous question on 18 September 2012 as follows: "The regular preparation and publication of actuarial assessments of public service pension costs is an important part of policy formulation and, in this regard, I believe that work should begin as soon as possible on a new actuarial assessment of public service pension costs, taking account of...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Rural Social Scheme (16 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: As part of the range of expenditure reforms introduced over the past year, Focused Policy Assessments (FPAs) have been introduced as a new format for conducting short, streamlined evaluations of particular aspects of public service configuration and delivery. FPAs are designed to complement the broader range of evaluation tools available within the public service, including Value-for-Money...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Pension Provisions (16 Jan 2013)

Brendan Howlin: The original pension terms in respect of membership of the Houses of the Oireachtas are derived from the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) Act 1938. While the terms were amended over the years, the most notable amendments took place in 1992 and these form the basis of the pension provisions - known generally as the "New Scheme" - applicable to the majority of current Oireachtas Members....